It’s Replay Roundup time! We’ve gathered five videos for today’s update, featuring great plays, creative usage of units, and battles between some of StarCraft’s all-time superstars.

First, we begin with a match showing a Protoss player, HuHuman, exploiting the terrain to the extreme on the map Delta Quadrant. Watch him abuse his helpless Zerg opponent using great micro-managing skills.

The next game is a classic, long, epic game on Metalopolis between BratOK playing as Terran and Socke playing as Protoss. There’s so much action in this game, it might make you think there are two players are controlling each side!

This game, cast by Artosis - a great player by his own right – features IdrA, the infamous professional Zerg player, fighting against none other than BoxeR, playing as Terran. BoxeR, a legend of StarCraft 1, has dominated the scene for many years, and is often credited with inventing modern Terran play. A Korean, his fan club is the largest in the world as far as professional players go.

In this clash of titans, one can definitely see that BoxeR does not play a standard game, and it’s often unclear whether his StarCraft 2 skills have yet to become refined or if he’s exercising his own unique style of play. Will BoxeR, the ultimate Terran player, prevail against IdrA, the ultra-methodical and unstoppable Zerg player?

Our next game of the day was played on the Asian server, a Zerg versus Protoss. After quick fast expansions by both players, this Metalopolis game geared up for a macro war. Notably, the Zerg player takes great advantage of Nydus Worms, using them to the extreme to exert constant pressure on his opponent and maintain map control.

The game sealing today’s update is nothing short of insane. Played between fan-favorite TheLittleOne as Terran against Dimaga, the highly-talented and often unorthodox Zerg player, this game features unit combinations that will make your jaw drop with awe – especially since both of these great players actually make them work!

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How do we manage to keep up with all the videos posted, you ask? Simple: we use a dedicated video panel that is automatically updated with videos from several select channels!

The SC2Blog team is proud to present our newest addition to the site: the StarCraft 2 Video Feed Panel. This page will be updated as new videos are added to the various channels, comfortably laying them all out for you to see. Soon, filtering and sorting options will be added to provide even greater utility. Bookmark it and enjoy the latest and greatest StarCraft 2 replay videos!

Think your channel should be on our page? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook.

The Marauder, Banshee and Spectre are no longer just Terran StarCraft 2 units.  Now, they’re also mindblowingly awesome progamer-grade hardware pieces by Razer.

The hardware comes with powerful StarCraft 2 specific driver features that allow the peripherals to act as indicators for actual game events as well as show current player APM  levels through multiple multi-color lights.

Razer Spectre

Technical specifications (EST price: 79.99)

Lightweight, Fingertip-Grip 5 Button Mouse

5600 DPI Laser Sensor

Ultrapolling (1000Hz Polling / 1ms Response)

APM-Lighting System

Button Force Adjustment

Always-On^TM mode

Ultra-large non-slip buttons

16-bit ultra-wide data path

Up to 200 inches per second and 50g of acceleration

Zero-acoustic Ultraslick^TM Teflon feet

Gold-plated USB connector

Braided 7 Foot USB Cable

Razer Marauder

Technical specifications (EST price: 119.99)

Full keyboard layout with integrated number pad keys

Ergonomically optimized wrist rest

Reduced desktop footprint

APM-Lighting System

Laser-etched keys

Optimized Key Travel & Spacing

Ultrapolling (1000Hz Polling / 1ms Response)

Braided 7 Foot USB Cable

Razer Banshee

Technical specifications (EST price: 119.99)

Circumaural Design with 50mm driver units

Volume & Mic Control Buttons on the Headset

APM-Lighting System

8 preset EQ

Detachable Microphone Boom

Braided 7 Foot USB Cable

Headphones

Frequency Response: 20 – 20,000 Hz

Impedance: 32Ω at 1kHz

Sensitivity (@1kHz, 1V/Pa): >102dB at 1 kHz

Max. Input Power: 200 mW (

Drivers: 50 mm, with neodymium magnets

Microphone

Frequency Response: 100 – 10,000 Hz

Sensitivity (-42 dB ± 2dB @1kHz, 1V/Pa)

Signal-to-Noise Ratio: >58 dB

Pick-up pattern: Uni-directional

Official Update From Blizzard, 29 June 2010:

Note that every other prediction from this rumor about the Korean Air-Blizzard event was dead-wrong.

If you’re wondering what the facts are — we will be addressing StarCraft II tournament functionality in a post launch patch to the game, soon after ship. This patch will include features to address the needs of location-based pro tournaments, but we have not discussed any specifics about tournament support beyond that.

Original post:

Even with the StarCraft 2 Beta down until further notice, the eSports arena is heating up. Rumors and teasers mentioning of a massive event scheduled to take place on June 24 have been released, and it appears that the event is not only meant to generate hype.
Big thanks goes to the TL and SCL communities for posting translations of the original material, which was released via PlayXP and sc2.178.com.

June 24 11:00~14:00
Gimpo Airport Korean Air Hangar

This event will run from June 24, from 11:00am until 2:00pm at the Korean Air Hangar, with the attendance of Blizzard HQ executives, national VIPs of the industry, reporters, and community members.

It was asked if the general public could participate, but unfortunately the event is planned to be invitation-only.

It is expected that all the details of StarCraft II’s release will be made public here.

Following Blizzard’s lockdown of the StarCraft franchise, many were expecting a major announcement to come out of Korea regarding the future of major league StarCraft competition, one that is approved by Blizzard. The event is planned to have Blizzard executives in attendance, so this just might be what fans and progamers worldwide have been waiting for.

1. There will be an upcoming “Ongame Net Starcraft 2 League,” or OSL2.
2. The sponsor of the first one will be Korean Air.
3. The first OS2L will have preliminaries all over the world and then the players will be gathered in Seoul for the Ro16.
4. There will be a “Starcraft 2 Professional Edition” that will only be provided to tournament organizers, which will include LAN functionality. Only with a special account + password that gets activated will it work. Blizzard staff will be present at tournaments to assist. Apparently, this news was first told to the organizers of the Stars War tournament after it had ended.

While the actual GomTV/OSL arrangement is not clear or fully confirmed yet, it is reasonable to assume that GomTV has found a way to work with one of the scene’s largest and most established operators. However, the most interesting part of this story is the StarCraft 2 Professional Edition, which is said to include LAN functionality.

LAN support, or the the lack of it, has been a major issue throughout StarCraft 2′s development. The gaming community did not approve of Blizzard’s decision to not support gameplay over local networks, and many fans have vowed to abstain from StarCraft 2 as long as it does not support this type of connection. It will be interesting to see if Blizzard actually does launch this “StarCraft 2 Professional Edition” and if the requirements for acquiring it will be made standard and public.

Update: Note that every other prediction from this rumor about the Korean Air-Blizzard event was dead-wrong.

After a long (and occasionally controversial) series of events, announcements and actions, this chapter of Blizzard’s Korean eSports saga appears to have reached a conclusion: GomTV is coming out on top with all other Korean eSports organizations receiving a sort of a grace period to adjust to the new reality until August 2010, the end of the current pro-gaming season.

According to multiple sources, most importantly TL’s detailed translation of the Korean news pieces, GomTV will have exclusive rights to operate and broadcast all Blizzard games in Korea. On the flip side, all other current operators, many of which have been managing leagues and TV broadcasts for almost a decade – such as KeSPA(Korean eSports Player Association), OnGameNet and MBCGame (Korean television channels) – are no longer authorized to handle Blizzard titles.

Mike Morhaime, Blizzard’s CEO, has commented on the Korean situation multiple times in the past. Mike has now released an open letter to the Korean eSports community, explaining the reasoning behind the partnership, as well as its terms and meaning to the community. Here are some highlights from the letter:

In 2007, we were shocked and disappointed to learn that KeSPA had illegally sold the broadcasting rights for Starcraft tournaments without our consent. With this clear violation of our intellectual property rights, we were forced to become more actively involved in the situation and make our voice be heard. Even so, we began talks with KeSPA in good faith so we could find a way to protect our intellectual property rights as well as help e-Sports to grow further.

2007 also happens to be the year that StarCraft 2 was announced in. Selling broadcasting rights to a game KeSPA doesn’t own obviously angered some people over at Blizzard.

For the following three years, we tried very hard to have negotiations where we could correct a skewed situation and reach mutual understanding. However, during this process, what we learned was that KeSPA did not recognize our intellectual property rights, and that our suggestions even up to this day, echoed unheard while KeSPA offered no solutions of their own.

This three year period, which we have recently covered, had only one predictable outcome, and it comes as no surprise to fans who have followed Blizzard’s very consistent line of statements.

With the release of “Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty” approaching, we decided we could not delay any further in finding a trustworthy partner who respected our intellectual property rights, and decided it was time to find a new way altogether.

Our best wishes and congratulations go to GomTV for securing such a valuable and exclusive partnership. Hopefully, it will keep eSports clean, increase its popularity and broadcast it free for fans to enjoy worldwide.